Today I have spent most of today in the bus. Wandered around Napier before we left. Very pretty but it is interesting that the swimming pool had a notice on the door barring ‘gang symbols or insignia’.

We stopped for lunch at Mount Bruce, a nature reserve. Although we only had time for lunch, we saw a kaka (endangered parrot) that arrived on the balcony demanding my sandwich. We had to fend it off as, apparently, the adults eating human food can kill the chicks when regurgitated. We also saw two takahe chasing each other about but too far away to photograph. This photo is from Google.

We then went across the mountains (think Mordor) to Wellington. This is where two tectonic plates meet – hence the volcanoes and the earthquakes – and all the wind in the neighbourhood forces its way between the mountains of the North Island and the mountains of the South Islands. Very very windy. We also went to see the parliament buildings.

The one thing I forgot to say yesterday was that we had been up Mount Victoria which overlooks the whole of Wellington – even windier. There is a cannon up there that was apparently put up in the 19C when the Russians invaded Afghanistan – or were about to or something. Panic that they were coming for the whole empire. One wonders if a) they knew where Afghanistan was and b) if they knew it was never part of the Empire.